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Journal Volume 3 No 1 May 2000 EDITORIAL In his editorial to the first edition of the Scottish journal of healthcare chaplaincy, John Swinton de-scribed the whole process of thinking through and launching it in terms of conceiving, carrying and birthing a child, with all the attendant anxieties, pains and joys. John's responsibility for nurturing the infant has now passed to David Mitchell and Georgina nelson. We are aware of our indebtedness to John for all his hard work, and we hope that the journal will continue to develop and to fulfil its un-doubted potential, and the hopes which John had for it. This edition is the fourth to date. In that first editorial, John described the aim of the journal as: 'To assist healthcare chaplains and other care workers in their efforts to love and to care, as they strive to provide effective spiritual, religious and pastoral care within the contemporary healthcare setting.' If the journal is to fulfil that aim, it needs to reflect the experience of those 'on the ground'; those who are in the business of engaging with people and situations which constantly demand that theology and practice be reflected upon and reviewed. This is no dry-as-dust, abstractly academic publication, of use only to a few. We want a journal which com-bines intellectual rigour with the practical, the lived experience of caring, and which can be a resource for a number of different disciplines involved in healthcare. This is your journal. Its success or oth-erwise depends upon you. So if you have something to say, fruit of your own research, experience and reflection, concerning any aspect of the work of chaplaincy, then we would like to hear from you. We would particularly like to know if you are in-volved in any course of study which you feel is of relevance for the personal or professional develop-ment of chaplains. The articles presented in this issue range widely. Eric Hargreaves gives us an insight into the world of those who have made the commitment to care long-term for a relative, and whose contact with health-care professionals, including chaplains, can over the years have a marked effect for good or ill upon the day to day business of living and caring. Ian Bar-croft writes with moving honesty of the dilemmas which arise when the chaplain, the 'detached caring professional', happens also to be a son. Such an ex-perience raises questions as to how the chaplain, faced with the shortcomings of an institution, is best able to be a caring, Christian presence within it. Can righteous anger and critical distance co-exist? In her reflection on mental health chaplaincy, Lorna Rat-tray too considers the notion of 'distance' in chap-laincy; she concludes that in the theology and practice of chaplaincy, distance must give place to a creative sharing; an acknowledgement that god does not keep a safe distance. A 'professional distance'? How does the chaplain in healthcare function as a professional? The late Tom Scott, writing in 1979, is nevertheless contemporary in his attempts to define how professionalism in chaplaincy works - its content, its implications for ongoing training, its challenges for clergy who have been used to functioning in quite a different setting. Challenging also are his thoughts on the 'peripheral stance' which he sees as being vital, and in the inter-ests of which chaplaincy should resist being drawn too closely into the structures of healthcare institu-tions. Do we want to become departments of spiri-tual care, competing for funding on the same basis as any other department, or is this bad for chap-laincy? On the theme of the peripheral nature of chaplaincy, Janet dyer writes of her experience of that condition; peripheral, not only as a chaplain within the hospital, but also in terms of being a woman priest within the Episcopal Church. As such, she writes of a diffi-cult time of learning and transition. She also points up the difficult dilemmas which arise when clamant pastoral need seems to conflict with theological and liturgical correctness. is there still a deep division between church institutions and agents of Christian presence, as Tom Scott wrote? Dilemmas theological and dilemmas ethical. Mark Hamilton affords us an insight into the issues sur-rounding infertility treatment. This fast moving technology, involving as it does social, legal, finan-cial, personal complexities, threatens to outpace the reflection which needs to accompany it, if we are to be progressively freed by technology, rather than progressively enmeshed by it. At the heart of chaplaincy lies an encounter with human suffering. And yet, it is an aspect from which we would shy away if we could. If only we could take shelter in a technique, a form of words, a pro-fessional detachment, a watertight theological argu-ment. Anything to put a comfortable distance between ourselves and the suffering which by its very nature threatens destruction of persons, of our-selves, of who we are. Stuart Chalmers tackles this subject in a way which is both psychologically in-sightful and theologically profound. He draws us to reflect upon what is most sacred and most human in our practice. Finally, we include Lorna Rattray's report on the cultural and theological insights afforded her by the ICPCC congress in Ghana, and Alison Wagstaff's sharing with us of her experience of a month of CPE, its structure, its value, its challenge. A wide
and varied selection then. Many voices rais-ing issues of relevance
and resonance for all who, again in John Swinton's words, seek to be
a 'human-ising presence' and who share the desire 'to care, to love,
and to enable others to live lives that are marked by those same qualities. Full Text (PDF Format) |
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CONTENTS "MY
GOD, MY GOD, WHY HVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Pages 3-8 A traditional approach to pain and the Christian is a theology of the cross. In this article Chalmers aims to re-examine this approach and to look at the danger of short-circuiting its theology. The experience of pain is considered in the light of the cross with the help of Psalm 22 and other scriptural texts. There are a number of stages or reactions on a Christian's journey of suffering or way of the cross. The author adopts Adolphe Cesché's framework as a starting point in analysing the process of attribution of religious meaning to suffering, revising it in the light of more recent writing and personal reflections. This framework is offered as an interpretative key to the pain-filled "why?": pro Deo (a plea on behalf of God), contra Deum (against God) ad Deum (an appeal to God) and cum Deo (with God). Key Words: pain, suffering, Christian theodicy, chaplaincy, prayer Stuart
P Chalmers Full Text (PDF Format) ETHICS
IN INFERTILITY TREATMENT Pages 9-14 The author acknowledges the considerable advancements in the management of the infertile that have taken place in recent years and seeks to explore the fundamental ethical issues that inevitably arise. The rationing of services for financial or organisational reasons is explored and other questions are raised: Does the donor of sperm or eggs have the right to anonymity or is that an infringement of the child's right to information and treatment? With genetic diagnosis, sex can be determined and abnormalities detected. What are the links with that information to abortion? A very thought provoking article that concludes with a personal comment on the polarised stances these ethical issues raise and the place of the Christian healthcare professional somewhere in the middle. Key Words: Infertility, rationing, donation, surrogacy, abortion Dr
Mark M P R Hamilton MD, FRCOG Full Text (PDF Format) CHAPLAINCY
- A RESOURCE OF CHRISTIAN PRESENCE Pages 15-19 This article is an extract form a lecture by the late Tom Scott presented at Heriot-Watt University in 1979. Twenty-one years hindsight shows the author's clear train of thought and while much in chaplaincy has moved forward there is much which remains the same. Scott explores: the changes the individual needs to make, moving from minister to chaplain; issues of training; temptation to develop chaplaincy as a department; and the opportunity the church has to use chaplaincy for theological experiment. Key words: institution, listening, presence, prophetic, theological experiment, training Rev
Tom Scott OBE, DPS, B.Phil (1933-1927) Full Text (PDF Format) DO
I CALL YOU FATHER? REFLECTIONS ON HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY IN A TIME OF TRANSITION Pages 20-23 The author writes as an Anglican woman, ordained by the Scottish Episcopal Church as deacon and later as priest, at a time when the controversy over female ordination was at its height. She describes the spectrum of reactions which she encountered, as church people, often painfully, reviewed their often deeply held beliefs and attitudes. the story is told largely in the light of the author's experience as a hospital chaplain: a min8istry which can sometimes be viewed by some as less complete that that of the parish clergy. and so, as a woman, ordained and a chaplain, she understands well the feelings of being on the margins. She describes coping with the tension between perceived pastoral need and ecclesiastical correctness which can arise in hospital, complicated by her own peculiarly exposed situation. The hurt, the anger are there, but the tone is ultimately positive and hopeful. Her ministry has been as liberating and affirming as it has been costly and challenging. Rev
Janet Dyer Full Text (PDF Format) REFLECTIONS
ON MENTAL HEALTH CHAPLAINCY Pages 24-26 Rattray reflects briefly on 6 years of mental health chaplaincy work. She stresses the common humanity, with its needs and vulnerabilities, of chaplain and patients and the need for openness in relationships. Worship in the hospital and its relationship with the realities of life is considered. The article ends with a reminder of the dependence of us all on the incarnate God. Key Words: humanity, openness, togetherness, incarnate Rev
Lorna Rattray Full Text (PDF Format) THROUGH
MY FATHER'S EYES Pages 27-29 Barcroft reflects on his pastoral work in hospital in the light of his experience some 5 months earlier of the death of his own father. (Adapted from a presentation to a Chaplaincy Training Day held at Law Hospital in Lanarkshire in November 1999) Rev
Ian Barcroft Full Text (PDF Format) CARING
FOR 'SPITTING SID' Pages 30-32 The Author writes matter-of-factly, but movingly about life with Paul, his adopted son, who was vaccine damaged at an early age. He describes the devastating consequence of this damage, not only for Paul, who was left very severely epileptic, but also for the whole family. There is much in this article which hints at the anger, the frustration, the isolation and the hurt occasioned by those, healthcare professionals included, who seem to lack the time or the will to understand and to empathise; this is balanced by a down to earth practicality, a dogged persistence in the task of caring and a sense that in many a situation there can be a redeeming element of humour. The article gives an insight into the cost, for a particular family, of caring for one of its members and of retaining that responsibility and privilege, with professional support for as long as possible. There follows an Editorial Comment by Rev Georgina Nelson (Joint Editor of the Journal and Chaplain at St John's Hospital in Livingston) Eric
Hargreaves Full Text (PDF Format) CLINICAL
PASTORAL EDUCATION (CPE) Pages 33-34 Wagstaff reposts on a course of study undertaken in South Africa while on sabbatical - August-September 1999. Rev
Alison Wagstaff Full Text (PDF Format) A
VISIT TO CHANA Pages 35-36 Rattray gives an account of the 6th International Congress of Pastoral Care and Counselling (ICPCC) August 1999. Rev
Lorna Rattray Full Text (PDF Format) BOOK REVIEWS Page 37 Way
to Go Review
by Paul Keely Full Text (PDF Format) |
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THE ORERE SOURCE Abstracts from Pastoral Care and other health Care Journals. Pages 38-43 Rev
W Noel Brown Full Text (PDF Format) |
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